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Saying thank you is one of the simplest ways to show your appreciation when a donor gives to your school—and one of the best ways to encourage repeated generosity. Most schools opt to do so in a letter, note, or phone call. This year, why not buck tradition and make a thank-you video?

To get you started, we’ve collected some of the best private-independent school video thank-yous from around the web. Ranging from technically masterful and scripted to the spontaneous and genuine, all epitomize the sincere and heartfelt appreciation your own end-of-year thanks should embody.

With your end of the year push to reach your funding goals and the mountains of thank-you notes waiting to be signed, sealed, and delivered, a chance to escape from the stress might feel impossible. Still, there’s no reason you can’t steal away from the hectic office on occasion with a good book—especially when it’ll help you improve your school’s development efforts. We’ve coupled each book with a webinar from our e-Learning archive, so when you make it back to your desk, you can spend an hour or two learning something new.

Summer is a slow(er) time for the Admission Office, though tours are still scheduled and family meet-and-greets are still planned. The brief respite before the beginning of the next recruitment season means you can relax with a good book. Here are a few we think are worthy of taking a starred place on your summer reading list, paired with relevant ISM webinars.

Not too long ago on our Admission Directors e-List, one director related an awful bind in which she’d found herself during a tour with a young child and his mother. During the tour, there were several “red flags” that the child was not developmentally ready for her school’s program and would probably be denied if the family applied for admission. Her question for the e-List: Should she deny the student before even receiving the application, or let the family pay the fee and go through “due process”?

To answer this question, we need to introduce the idea of "emotional banking."